Artist&#39;s box



Aug. 18, 1953 l. BROOKS ET AL ARTISTS BOX Filed May 3, 1950 d WI Mn F W m a 3 s m N 5 ml, v 2 W W O .1 A WI, 3 n 0 ll MB I I n 6 H r o Tm Y 0 B M fl Hunt;

Patented Aug. 18, 1953 brook, N. Y.', assignors to American Artists- Color Works, Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y,., a. corporation of New York Application May '3, 1950, Serial No.. 159,742

3 Claims,

When artists go out into the field to paint and. sketch they generally take with them their boxes which contain their equipment including colors, brushes, and canvases. These boxes have generally involved a main. body compartment and a cover. The covers heretofore have been provided with opposed side walls formed with oppositely disposed slots to receive and house the canvases. When the box is opened and the cover is in open upright position, the canvases can be lifted out of their respective slots and disposed against the cover in various manners to dispose them in position for sketching or painting. Heretofore the canvases were left housed in the slots of the cover and the artists painted thereon while they were thus housed. It is obvious that in this position the entire area of the canvas would not be available to the artist for the painting thereon. Various constructions have been hitherto provided to permit these canvases tobe thus disposed, but most of them have involved expensive complicated structures which, because of cost and complexity, have thus been proved to be impractical.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simple, efficient, inexpensive construction which will permit the canvas to be disposed in operative position for painting or sketching, in such a position removed from the cover-housing slots so that the entire area of the canvas is readily available to the artist in a convenient position.

A further object is to provide a construction which involves a minimum of parts and no major alteration in the usual structure of the boxes now in use.

Further and more specific objects, features and advantages will more clearly appear from a consideration of the detailed specification hereinafter set forth, especially when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a present preferred form which the invention may assume and which form part of the specification.

In brief and general terms, the invention involves a cover which has a pair of side walls having opposed slots therein in which canvases are housed. The improvement comprises cutting one or more slots across these normal vertical slots and slightly inclined rearwardly and downwardly to receive a shelf element on the upper surface of which are formed a series of parallel slots. When the shelf is thus disposed in one or the other of the cross cut slots above mentioned with its slotted face disposed upwardly, the canvas which has been removed from the normal housing slots can be disposed with its lower edge disposed in one or the other of the slots in the upper face of the shelf and its upper edge inclined rearwardly and lying against the'upright cover member. Thus the artist, by a simple arrangement of an extra shelf and the novel construction of the cross cut slots, may dispose his canvas as desired.

The present preferred form which the invention may assume is illustrated in the drawings, of which,

Fig. l is a perspective view of the device with the cover'opened and showing a canvas disposed with respect thereto in operative position;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1'; and,

Fig; 3 is a detail showing a canvas disposed operatively in another position.

Referring'now merely to the specific preferred form of the'invention shown in the drawing, it is to be noted that the box, in general arrangement, is of the usual type, having a main body portion 10 and a pivoted cover [I suitably related by hinge elements l2. The body portion may be provided with any suitable arrangement of compartments I3 to receive artists material such as paints, brushes, and the like. The cover is provided with side walls l4 and I5 which on their adjacent faces are provided with a series of spaced slots I 6 extending longitudinally thereon. These slots are provided to receive and hold one or more canvases A on which the artist may desire to sketch or paint.

In order to permit the artist to use the box as a support for his canvas in a desired convenient position for sketching or painting, we have provided the adjacent faces of the side walls with cross cut slots I1 and I8 at different levels, and out with a slight rearward and downward slope as shown. These transverse, or cross cut slots, are provided to receive one edge portion of a supporting shelf 19 which is slipped into one or the other of said slots. This shelf on its upper surface is provided with a series of longitudinal parallel spaced grooves 20. With this shelf disposed in one or the other of said slots, which will be seen from the drawings, the canvas A on which it is desired to sketch or paint may be pulled out of the slots IS in the cover and disposed with its lower edge in one of the slots 20 on the shelf I9, and sloping upwardly and rearwardly to rest against the cover. If the canvas is disposed with its longer edge resting in the grooves 20, its upper portion will 3 rest against the front of the side walls I4 and I5 as shown in Fig. 3, but if its shorter edge rests in the groove 20 then its upper portion will lie between the side walls and against the back edge of the cover.

It will thus be observed that by taking the usual artists box and providing the canvas-receiving slots with transversely cut slots to receive a supporting shelf we have enabled the artist by the use of only one additional element, namely, the shelf I 9, and without any major alteration of the box, to securely dispose his canvas on the box at any one of several desired angles for the purpose of facilitating his work without having to have a separate easel or similar support. When the artist is through with his sketching, he removes the canvas from the support I9, houses it in one of the slots I 5, places the shelf in the top of the main body portion, and then closes the cover, thus making a very simple, efficient and useful construction.

While the invention has been described in detail and shown with respect to the accompanying drawing, it is not to be limited to such details, since many changes and modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Hence, it is desired to cover any and all forms and modifications of the invention which may come within the language and scope of any one or more of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An artist's box including a cover portion having side walls, the inner faces of which are provided with a series of transverse slots adapted to receive a canvas supporting shelf having a series of longitudinal slots in its upper surface, said transverse slots inclining slightly downwardly and rearwardly when the cover portion is in the fully opened position, whereby a canvas may adjustably lean against the cover with its lower edge 4 resting in one of the longitudinal slots of said shelf.

2. In an artists box which includes a cover having side walls, a canvas supporting shelf having longitudinal parallel slots in its upper face, pairs of parallel transversely cut slots in the inner faces of said side walls, said shelf adapted to be received in a pair of slots in a direction generally transverse to the length of said side walls, said transversely cut slots sloping generally rearwardly and downwardly when said cover is in open position, any one of said longitudinal slots on said shelf being adapted to receive the lower edge of a canvas.

3. In an artists box which includes a cover having side walls, a canvas supporting shelf having longitudinal parallel slots in its upper face, a plurality of pairs of transversely cut slots in the inner faces of said side walls, each pair adapted to receive and retain said shelf on the cover in the direction generally transverse to the length of said side walls, said transversely cut slots in the side walls sloping slightly rearwardly and downwardly when said cover is in open position, each one of said longitudinal slots on said shelf adapted to receive the lower edge of a canvas so that the canvas can be positioned on said shelf in a plurality of positions.

IRWIN BROOKS. ALAN FRIEDBERG.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 654,841 Sabin July 31, 1900 1,348,262 Brockway Aug. 3, 1920 1,876,601 Grumbacher Sept. 6, 1932 2,299,409 Rathburn Oct. 20, 1942 2,346,430 Hauser Apr. 11, 1944 2,531,189 Abel Nov. 21, 1950 

